Giants owner John Mara: Notion Roger Goodell's job in jeopardy 'misguided'
New York Giants co-owner John Mara called the notion NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's job is now in jeopardy "misguided," though Mara and other owners were initially "dissatisfied" with Goodell's too lenient, two-game suspension of former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice.
With Goodell under fire from Congress and other organizations for his mishandling of the Rice domestic violence incident, Mara joined New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft in supporting the commissioner's subsequent strengthening of the league's domestic violence policy and insists the NFL and the Ravens did everything within their legal means to request the "appalling" elevator video of Rice knocking out his then-fiancee (now wife), Janay, in an Atlantic City casino elevator in February. The footage was acquired and released Monday by TMZ.
"Many of us were dissatisfied with the original two-game suspension of Ray Rice," Mara said in a statement released by the Giants.
"The Commissioner took responsibility for that in his August 28th memo to the owners when he stated, 'I didn't get it right. Simply put, we have to do better. And we will.' He then took appropriate steps to address this matter. Our policy now on domestic violence has been strengthened. We have all learned a valuable lesson from this episode. We now have a strong partnership with anti-domestic violence groups, and we will be a better League for it going forward.
"My understanding is that the League and the Ravens made repeated requests to obtain the video of the Ray Rice incident and were denied each time. The notion that the League should have gone around law enforcement to obtain the video is, in my opinion, misguided, as is the notion that the Commissioner's job is now in jeopardy. The video is appalling, and I believe that the team and the League took appropriate action after they finally had the opportunity to view it.
"There is no place for domestic violence in our sport or in our society, and we are committed to doing our part to prevent such heinous acts going forward."
New York Jets owner Woody Johnson also issued a statement which read: "This is an important issue, one that is much bigger than football and one that we must all learn from as we move forward. Domestic violence in any situation is wrong. Commissioner Goodell has made the NFL's position clear & we understand there is no place for this type of conduct in our society."
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Follow Jim Corbett on Twitter @ByJimCorbett
